2116：Art of Leverage

Gallery 1313

January 2016

At a moment in human history that is confusing and overwhelming, yet also fiercely infused with possibility and creativity, young artists have a complicated role – they are both commentators and creators, examining and altering reality while holding up a mirror.

Twelve artists with different cultural backgrounds – from Saudi Arabia to India, Cuba to Venezuela, China to Canada – are featured in this multi-media exhibit. The works include painting, drawing, installation, sculpture and video. Creatively, the works are united by an attention to the underlying values of humanity (often obscured in modern society), and a calling up of forgotten spirituality.

2116: Art of Leverage centers on the understanding of the role young artist plays in today’s realities. Perhaps, if we are lucky, a hundred years from now (in 2116), art historians will draw parallels between the unprecedented social restructuring of our century and the French Revolution’s impact on the development of European culture. Both epochs are soaked with the rebellious atmosphere of Romanticism: similar to Gericault and Delacroix, contemporary artists have a strong feeling of living in the Time of Change, when the future is obscure yet open to new influences. The post-modernistic art scene, similar to the Romantic one, is defined by ambitious and bright young individuals, who are capable of creating a viable new reality.

The exhibition aims to gather young artists who provide a new perspective on society that is vital to our evolution as a global community. Creative messages can serve as an impetus to reconnect with a mode of life most of us have only ever heard about. And it’s up to us – the modern generation – whether their thoughts will become another a New Reality. The year 2116 seems hard to imagine from where we are now; young artists show us possible ways to progress from here to there. This exhibition features selected work by Hussain AI Ismail, Yan Wen Chang, Luis Figueroa, Marley Johnson, Sally Huang Wong, Sara MacLellan, Leone McComas. Alexadr Nabokov, Fernando Pendas, Vinetha Sivathasan, Kathy H. Zhou and Yong Zhang.

Emerging Young Artists would like to acknowledge the funding support from Ontario Arts Council, an agency of the government of Ontario and our exhibition supporters Gallery 1313, Art Calorie and Art100.

2016: Art of Leverage or 2116? Well actually, it is 2116. As for the theme of the exhibit, it is all about the intrinsic power of art to reshape reality through the deepening of human connections, not through the power of force or argument. This is leverage.
Anne Tom Wong